With a buttery crumble crust and sweet apple filling, these homemade apple crumble bars are soft, chewy, and absolutely delightful any time of the year.
The best apple crumble bars
These are pretty much guaranteed to disappear at parties!
Imagine all the deliciousness of traditional hot apple crumble, conveniently packed into a bar, with cinnamon apples pressed between a shortbread crust and crumble topping.
If you are looking for a simple and delightful seasonal dessert that isn’t pumpkin, be sure to give these classic baked apple crumble bars a try.
Also make these Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
I’ve now done raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, peach, and cherry pie versions of the recipe, but apple might just be my favorite flavor.
There is just something so cozy and comforting about the apple cinnamon combination paired with the rich crust and topping.
It’s a perfect dessert, not just for the Fall season, but also for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July, or any time you are craving apple pie!
Readers also love this Brownie in a Mug
Apple crumble bar ingredients
For the recipe, you will need flour, ground cinnamon, baking powder, salt, sweetener, a fat source, cornstarch or arrowroot, and diced apple.
The bars work with white all purpose flour or with spelt flour or oat flour for healthy whole grain apple bars. I have not tried the bars with whole wheat flour and do not recommend using coconut flour or almond flour.
If you do not wish to use refined sugar, feel free to swap it out for an equal amount of unrefined coconut sugar, date sugar, or sugar free granulated erythritol or xylitol.
To sweeten the apples, you can use pure maple syrup, honey, agave, or any other all purpose liquid or granulated sweetener.
As a fun flavor variation, you can also stir in a handful of shredded coconut, finely chopped walnuts, or raisins with the diced apples.
The pastry crust can be made with butter, coconut oil, or even softened almond butter. For low fat apple crumble bars, replace three tablespoons of the fat with milk of choice.
As mentioned earlier, some or all of the apples can easily be swapped out for blackberries, cherries, blueberries, peaches, mango, or other fruit of choice.
Apple crumble bar recipe video
Watch the step by step video above.
Caramel apple crumble bars
If you are feeling really decadent, sprinkle a layer of finely chopped salted caramels on top of the apple layer before adding the crumble topping.
While these salted caramel apple bars might not be the healthiest option, they are a melt-in-your-mouth decadent autumn treat to enjoy in moderation and are always super popular at parties.
Update: Try this full recipe for Caramel Apple Bars
How to make apple crumble bars
Gather the ingredients, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line an eight inch square baking pan with parchment paper, or grease it well. Then set this pan aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the cinnamon, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Stir in the butter or oil and optional milk of choice. Also add a fourth teaspoon of salt if using oil or unsalted butter.
Press about two thirds of this pastry dough very firmly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan to form a pie crust. Reserve the remaining dough.
Toss the peeled and diced apples with the cornstarch and liquid sweetener. Spread this easy apple pie filling evenly over the crust.
Sprinkle the reserved dough on top, and press this crumb topping down firmly.
Place the pan on the oven’s center rack. Bake for 50 minutes. Let cool before slicing, during which time the bars will firm up.
Storing the apple bars
Leftovers can be covered and stored on the counter overnight, with a small opening to allow moisture to escape and thus prevent against gummy bars.
After a day, refrigerate the apple crumble bars in an airtight container for freshness.
Or freeze the bars, with a layer of parchment paper in between each bar so they do not stick together. Thaw frozen bars before serving.
This recipe makes about twenty to twenty five apple crumble slices. I cut them into twenty five apple squares for the pictures.
The bars were adapted from my Strawberry Oatmeal Bars
Is the recipe vegan, gluten free, or keto?
For vegan apple crumble bars, simply choose a plant based butter spread or go with the coconut oil or almond butter. The bars are already naturally egg free.
Use certified gluten free oat flour to make gluten free apple crumble bars. I have not tried all purpose gluten free flour here, but please feel free to experiment!
While this recipe is not low carb or keto friendly, I do have many other keto dessert options, including Keto Cookies, Keto Cake, and Keto Cheesecake.
Apple Crumble Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour (spelt, white, or oat)
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup sugar or coconut sugar
- 3/4 cup butter or coconut oil or almond butter
- 3 tbsp milk of choice or additional butter
- 3 1/4 cup diced apple (2 large or 3 medium)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch or arrowroot
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup or sweetener of choice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Stir the first five ingredients together, then cut in the butter or stir in the oil. (Also add an additional 1/4 tsp salt if using oil or unsalted butter.) Press about 2/3 of the dough firmly into the bottom of an 8×8 pan lined with parchment paper. Toss the apples with the cornstarch and liquid sweetener, then spread this over the crust. Sprinkle remaining dough evenly over everything, and press down. Bake 50 minutes, then let cool before slicing into bars.The coconut oil version of the apple crumble bars (which is shown in the photos) will be more crumbly, so I recommend chilling the bars before cutting for cleaner slices.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Apple Dessert Recipes
Overnight Oats (including an apple cinnamon version)
Is there a way to make this with a pumpkin filliing? I’m a new vegetarian and want to try to introduce the “world of healthy eating” to a bunch of skepticals. I really want to make this for thanksgiving, but I can’t figure out how to make a pumpkin filling, or if it would even be good! Please HELP!!!!!!!!
Is there a way to make this with a pumpkin filliing? I’m a new vegetarian and want to try to introduce the “world of healthy eating” to a bunch of skepticals. I really want to make this for thanksgiving, but I can’t figure out how to make a pumpkin filling, or if it would even be good! Please HELP!!!!
You never know unless you try! 🙂
A new favorite. Changes since I am not vegan, but am wheat/corn/dairy and sugar free: Added 1 egg. Used honey and Xylitol instead of other sugars. Used almond milk. Flour blend was Bob’s Red Mill GF flour mix w/ xantham gum. Chose real butter (an allergy splurge since I was sharing this with friends) for inside and coconut oil for topping glaze (from single serving apple crumble recipe). Swapped cornstarch for tapioca flour. Used pears instead of apples–it’s what I had on hand. SOOOO YUMMY! Drizzled glaze on top after baking while cooling. Thanks Katie for another hit!
I made this for my husband one day and now he asks for it ALL THE TIME…yaaay. (that’s sarcasm 😉 ) He usually doesn’t like my cooking. I use King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour and half coconut sugar/half brown sugar. Thank you Katie for your delicious recipe! (that I have to make all the time).
My husband loved these! They came out great!
How many servings does this make?
Thank you for another fabulous recipe Katie! I happened to have a couple Pink Lady apples in the house (1 was just right for the recipe), so finding this was perfect timing. My favorite is a tie: Honey Crisp and/or Pink Lady.
I made the recipe exactly as written, and I may get bold and make apple/raspberry next time. Will report back!
try braeburn apples (from new zealand) when they’re in season…wonderfully sweet and tart, very crisp, very good…
Do you think if I doubled the recipe (because it looks freakin’ amazing) and baked it in a 9X11 pan I could bake it for the same amount of time?
and oh yeah, pink lady apples!!
Doubling the recipe works. You might have to tweak the baking time by just a few minutes.
O-M-G!!! This is an incredible! Forget healthy! I used half Earth Balance and coconut oil.